Club-like exercise devices have been used for exercise, training and rehabilitation dating back for hundreds of years, if not longer. One country of origin for these club-like exercise devices was India. British colonialists brought these training tools back from India to England and they came to be called “Indian Clubs.” Indian Clubs became very popular in the late 1800's and into the early 1900's in England and then the United States. Indian Clubs were often made of wood and came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They were used by military soldiers for exercise and training, as well as by the general population for exercise. Modern club-like devices are generally made of wood, hard plastic composites or metal. Today Indian Clubs are making a resurgence but their popularity is limited in part because of the unforgiving hard materials used to construct them, and the associated risks of injury. Because Indian Clubs are constructed of a hard material they are dangerous, their application to total body exercise routines is limited for most people.
Juggling clubs resemble Indian Clubs but are usually lighter. The lighter construction of juggling clubs enables users to throw and catch them more easily whereas Indian Clubs are generally heavier and are not thrown, but rather swung about the body. Some juggling clubs are designed more specifically for training and incorporate a soft padded surface to prevent injury when a juggler misses a catch and the club hits his/her (hereafter referred to as his for convenience) body. While these training juggling clubs are similar to the present invention in that they incorporate soft padding on the clubs, their design is distinctly different from the present invention so that they can facilitate juggling as opposed to swinging them for exercise. Juggling clubs are designed with a balanced weight distribution that enables them to turn or rotate about a central axis for even and fluid rotations through the air to facilitate juggling. The present apparatus and method taught in the present invention have an uneven weight distribution between the club handles which are light and the club heads which are heavier making them unsuitable for throwing and catching but rather optimizes them for swinging exercises. The weight distribution between the handle and head of the present invention helps encourage and teaches a user to articulate the wrists and shoulders through a greater range of motion than when manipulating a more evenly weighted club.
Similar devices having extended handles such as sledgehammers are being used for exercise, primarily in the form of hitting truck tires in a gym. This exercise develops the coordination between the hands where one hand starts at the upper distal end adjacent to the head and slides down to the lower end of the handle during the swinging process, then connecting to a rigid object. Hammers and mallets with rubberized hammer heads are used as tools to hammer objects without denting or defacing them such as wooden furniture. Because many of these devices are constructed of hard materials with a rigid handle and metal hammer head, they are dangerous if not used with extreme caution. These hammers and mallets with rubberized heads are not suitable for many total body exercise routines because the rubberized hammer heads are still hard enough to cause injury if one happens to inadvertently strike his body. The act of hitting a rigged object with a limited cushioning effect provided by the present invention has additional benefits in some exercise routines.
The present Hand Held Exercise and Fitness Devices disclosed within this application and method taught enable a wider population of people with many fitness levels enjoy the benefits of exercise routines with less risk of injury and far wider application to total body exercise.
Numerous innovations for various hand held exercise and devices have been provided in the prior art that are described as follows. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they differ from the present design as hereinafter contrasted. The following is a summary of those prior art patents most relevant to this application at hand, as well as a brief description outlining the difference between the features of the Hand Held Exercise Device and the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,210 of John E. Soukeras describes an exercise club, which may be held comfortably in one hand. Two of these clubs may be used, one in each hand, to execute a series of planned movements, which result in a full body workout. The weight of the clubs may be easily adjusted, to alter the intensity of the workout as desired. Virtually any person can use the clubs to improve their strength, health and fitness. This club can be made preferably of enforced polypropylene for rapid and quick volume production through injection molding.
This patent describes an exercise club with a head that is adjustable in position along the length of the handle but does not have the head with the unique capabilities of a club with a variety of soft polymer flexible heads that can be filled with varying quantities of a variety of granular substances including but not limited to ball bearings (commonly referred to as bb's), sand, gravel and variable density urethane foams or the additional inflatable head that will be capable of accommodating different air pressures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,416 of Oliver D. Finnigan describes a juggling club which is composed of a sturdy hollow one-piece molded plastic body formed with a bulged end for receiving a tapered resilient knob, and also formed with a notched end for receiving a resilient tip. The body is formed of, for example, polyethylene, and it is inexpensive in its construction since it does not include a dowel pin, or the like, extending through the club for supporting the knob and tip at the opposite ends of the body.
This patent describes a juggling club which is composed of a sturdy hollow one-piece molded plastic body with a centralized weight distribution and does not incorporate the light weight handle along with not having the ability of a soft polymer flexible head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,610 of Terry P. Israel describes a light weight exerciser or club adapted to assist the user to perform stretching, isometric, isotonic, and isokinetic exercises and to combine them with various aerobic exercises of walking or jogging. The exercise club has the shape of an elongate cylindrical shaft terminated in coaxially mounted end knobs serving as hand grips and has a length corresponding to the width of the chest of the user. The end knobs are dimensioned to be gripped by the hand with the palm resting against their outer ends with the fingers curving around the edges of the knob. The knobs are rounded in peripheral dimension and continuous to an inner wall which continues smoothly to and joins with the shaft so that the finger tips can lie along and grip the inwardly facing walls of the knob. Means are provided for forming various hand, finger, and thumb gripping surfaces. When the exerciser is constructed of wood such means can comprise grooves formed in the parts by scoring together with scallops formed in the rounded peripheral portions of the end knobs.
This patent describes a light weight exerciser or club adapted to assist the user to perform stretching, isometric, isotonic, and isokinetic exercises with hand knobs at both ends of a tubular member. It does not resemble the conventional Indian Club and does not indicate a club with a variety of soft polymer flexible heads that can be partially filled with a varying quantities of a variety of granular substances such as bb's, sand, gravel and low density urethane foam or the additional inflatable head that will be capable to different air pressures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,468 of Brian J. Dube describes a juggling club that is formed of a hollow, unitary molded plastic body having a bulged portion, a relatively heavy knob and handle portion, and a center of gravity located at between 55 and 59 percent of the length of the longitudinal axis toward the bulged end of the club. The thickness of the body wall of the club is substantially greater at the handle and knob portions than at the bulged portion.
This patent describes another juggling club which is composed of a unitary molded plastic body having a bulged portion, a relatively heavy knob and handle portion with a centralized weight distribution and does not incorporate the light weight handle along with not having the ability of a number of soft polymer flexible heads.
There are no devices in the prior art that exists that would address the needs and create the specific advantages and benefits attendant with the Apparatus and Method for total body exercise routines using a sledgehammer-like device. The present design is a new, useful and non-obvious combination of method steps and component elements, with the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, and by employing readily available materials.
None of these previous efforts, however, provides the benefits attendant with the Hand Held Exercise and Fitness Devices disclosed within this application. The present designs achieve their intended purposes, objects and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and non-obvious combination of method steps and component elements at a reasonable cost to manufacture, and by employing readily available materials.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the Hand Held Exercise and Fitness Devices as a method for more effective exercise in detail, it is to be understood that the design is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement, of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The Hand Held Exercise and Fitness Devices used as a method for total body exercise are capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present design. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present application.